


Need

by Bahar1182



Series: Hold My Hands, Don't Let Me Fall [1]
Category: Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game)
Genre: Aftercare, Angst, Bad Humor, Boys In Love, Childhood Trauma, Crushes, Fluff, Leona being Leona, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parent Death, Possessive Behavior, Ruggie "eat the rich" Bucchi, Ruggie's grandmother, Sassy Ruggie, Sick Character, Starvation, one sided Jack Howl/Ruggie Bucchi, thief Ruggie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26517187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bahar1182/pseuds/Bahar1182
Summary: You may want him. But he needs you.
Relationships: Epel Felmier/Jack Howl, Kalim Al-Asim/Jamil Viper, Ruggie Bucchi/Leona Kingscholar, Vil Schoenheit/Idia Shroud
Series: Hold My Hands, Don't Let Me Fall [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1940179
Comments: 5
Kudos: 96





	1. Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How they met.

It wasn't always like this. Ruggie sleeping soundly in Leona's arms with his hair messy and his body full of bite marks. He'd pretend to be angry with Leona when he wakes up, but would still leave his shirt open for enough people to see the marks and wonder. Apparently, it was a good distraction for Ruggie to steal their wallets. Leona smiled at the thought of Ruggie successfully getting away with stealing (again). It'd put him in a good mood and Leona liked seeing him smiling.

But it wasn't always like this. Leona never imagined it'd end up like this. Not when he first saw Ruggie standing between all the other students. Their eyes never met during the ceremony, Ruggie seemed distant but not like the others who were nervous. He looked like he was actually busy with things on his mind.

The next time he saw Ruggie the boy was running into their dorm, sweaty and seemingly exhausted. But he looked more alive than Leona had ever been. His eyes finally met Leona's. "Dorm leader? Uh.. um... good evening?" Leona smirked at his attempt in being polite. "Yeah~ What were you doing this late outside? If Crowley catches you you'll have to listen to his rambling for hours!" Ruggie, now recognizing Leona as NOT a threat and feeling relieved, laughed. His laughter would echo in Leona's mind for days to come. "It's okay since I already have~ I somehow managed to get permission to work part-time until late. You know, since he's SUPER kind!" Leona's smirk turned into a genuine but short-lived laugh. He liked the kid. "You might still manage to get something from the cafeteria. If not, you can just use the kitchen here." The boy ran as fast as he could, waving Leona goodbye. Leona decided he didn't dislike the kid.

They' run into each other now and then, Ruggie would greet Leona with the biggest smile on his face and Leona would pet his head if he felt generous. Eventually, small conversations sparked, and after that, Leona found himself enjoying the time he spent with Ruggie. He wasn't intimated by Leona's status as a prince or even him being the dorm leader. He was just the lazy, carefree Leona-san to Ruggie and that made him happy.

Some months later, when the first years stopped feeling fresh and new and started to look like a part of the school, Leona caught something that rubbed him the wrong way. He heard a conversation between the thick walls, just somewhere that the surveillance cameras didn't seem to catch, and approached it. As one of the dorm leaders, he supposed he should've done something, but he didn't. He just stood there as some guy put his hand on Ruggie's shoulder, lowering him down on the ground. The guy's looks screamed ' **virgin** ' and Leona kept wondering why would Ruggie pick him the whole time. His question was answered about 5 minutes later, when Ruggie took too much of the guy's money and sent him off. "Ugh, I still need more... But before that..." His tone of voice changed. "Why don't you come out, Leona-san?~"

Leona tried to keep his cool with the most evil-looking smirk he could manage to show. "Since when did you know?" Ruggie hummed a little as he counted the money one more time. "Since I got rid of that guy's weird-smelling dick? Besides, you smell _rich_. It's hard not to notice." There was too much salt in Ruggie's voice. Then it hit Leona. Ruggie was never intimidated by him because he hated him. More accurately, the way Leona was born. Leona didn't need ten pages of backstory to know Ruggie didn't have a normal childhood. But it wasn't their fault. Not Leona's and not Ruggie's. None of them choose to be born the way they were. Still, Leona felt a little bit hurt.

"I'm not going to report you." He finally managed to say. In his mind; he was chasing the guy from earlier around the school, biting his neck and touring him apart and eating his flesh alive, giving him a painful death. Not only him, but all the guys who dared to touch Ruggie before, and every single person who had ever wronged him. The lion, the lazy and unmotivated lion, inside of Leona was suddenly awakening and demanding to make Ruggie _his_. "Hmm? Well, that's very kind of you-"

"But if you need money just ask me," Leona cut him off and continued before hearing the hyena arguing. "I already needed someone to do my things for me and I'll have the money to pay you however much _I_ see fit." Ruggie stared at him in disbelief for a while, trying to collect his mind. Leona sighed. "I'm not telling you what to do. I know the world probably hasn't ben fair to you. But if you don't wanna do something you don't have to. Of course, unless you don't want my money and prefer doing whatever that was." Another likable thing about Ruggie is how he thinks fast. He smirked at Leona and nodded. "Just to be clear, I'm not ashamed of whatever I've ever done. But I'm tired of seeing weird dicks and you seem to have way more money than all of them."

That wasn't exactly... anything. But it was an actual start and made Leona happy. 


	2. Stay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leona learns some things about Ruggie.

Leona later found out why Ruggie was always short on money. No matter how much of a criminal he was, he was soft with people he cared about. Which included their whole neighborhood. Leona went there to see Ruggie during the holidays. It wasn't the atmosphere he was used to. It wasn't threatening, not to a lion-like him with so much talent in magic and even physical combat, rather the existence of a place like that gave him goosebumps. Why does a place as dirty and sad as this even exist? He thought to himself as he made his way to where Ruggie's house was.

And he found the boy rather easily. His laughter was unmistakable and he was standing on a tree. Not that hard to find. Ruggie started waving as he spotted Leona, coming down from the tree. "Yo! Leona-san! What are you doing here?" Really, what was he doing there? Maybe he wanted to make sure. Maybe somewhere in his mind, he hoped that Ruggie was just a troubled kid and his life hasn't been that bad. Which proven false.

He spent the day with Ruggie and all the children surrounding him. He was already used to children and seeing Ruggie holding a small girl made him imagine things he probably shouldn't. For a few hours, Leona was glad to look past the dirty streets and the smell of rotten flesh in the air. He might've even seen a corpse rotting in a dark alley, but he chose to ignore it like everybody else. As the sun started to set, Ruggie fell asleep next to a tree with the same small girl in his arms.

"Can you help bring them inside? They'll catch a cold like this." Leona turned around to face an old woman. She was almost as tall as Ruggie but didn't seem to be as fragile. Every other part of her also reminded Leona of Ruggie, from the way she was standing to her haircut. "Oh, I'm Ruggie's grandma'. You're Leona, aren't you? Better come inside before anybody other that the children have the time to get a good glimpse of your face." Even her laughter sounded like Ruggie. Leona smirked. "Well yeah, I don't wanna murder anyone if they attack me." He grabbed Ruggie and the girl, extremely careful with her head, maybe because she was the same size Cheka used to be a few years ago. "My, you're more of a brat than my Ruggie. I didn't think that was possible."

The house was way smaller than Leona had imagined. The one small room was smaller than the bathroom and seemed to be used for storing stuff. Leona didn't look enough to know exactly what. One small living room and an even smaller kitchen and that was it. Only one carpet in the middle of the living room. "Just leave them on the couch, Ruggie'd wake up eventually."

The old woman was fun. She didn't even let Leona ask anything and answered all the questions on his head, saving him the trouble. She spent most of her days in the hospital. _'Don't you see how fat I'm becoming from all the hospital food?'_ Was what she said with a big smile. Ruggie made money to pay for her hospital bill and help every other family in their neighborhood. "You have no idea how much everyone here appreciates Ruggie. They even gave him money to buy a ceremony robe and uniform. I know you're the one who ended up giving him your hand down uniform. He probably somehow gave the money back to them. He's a good kid, you know? He has so much potential and talent. But the world hasn't been nice to him." She offered some beer to Leona, which he refused. She laughed again. "Everything that happened to him was because of our wrong choices. Me and my daughter... I chose to do some bad stuff and spend a really long time in jail. In the meantime, my daughter grew up, married the wrong person, and had a son. I'm not sure what happened, but when I got out of jail, I found Ruggie on the streets. Apparently, he had to watch his mom starve to death and even stabbed a guy. He was 11 when I found him."

At that point, she started crying. Leona remained silent. Wondering truly what happened. What was Ruggie's mom like? Who was his dad? Why did he have to stab a guy? 

"Did you know he has digestion problems? If he eats too much his stomach won't handle it and he'll throw it up. He can't even get fat. The only time he allowed me to take him to the hospital, the doctor said all those years of starvation fucked up his organs. But he's functioning and Ruggie says that's enough for him." She looked up at the moon. The look of regret on her face was something Leona was familiar with. "He's a good kid. But he understands survival is the most important thing and does anything to survive. At least we were able to teach him that." She pet Leona's head. "Take care of him. Okay?"

Leona sometimes wondered if women were psychic. They seemed to always see through him. Just a few days before, Frena's wife teased him and asked if he had found someone special. Okay, he might've been grinning at a picture of a sleeping Ruggie. But that didn't mean anything.

"By the way, what's with that girl?" Leona pointed at the girl sleeping next to Ruggie. Now her leg kicking Ruggie's face while Ruggie was slightly grinning in his sleep. Probably dreaming about food. Leona would've had taken another picture if the grandmother wasn't right there. "Oh her? Well... she's somewhat similar to Ruggie. Her dad died a few days ago in a street fight and since then Ruggie's been taking care of her. We didn't tell her anything but she probably knows, that's why she refuses to leave Ruggie's side. But your school's gonna start soon so I guess she should be prepared? You guys could adopt her after graduation~" Leona froze at the weird suggestion. It wasn't as if Leona himself wasn't having uncalled for fantasies about Ruggie, but this was a little bit too much.

"Do I talk too much? Yeah, I get that a lot. They only let me loose because I annoyed the hell out of my inmates~" Ruggie slowly opened his eyes at the sound of her loud laughter, smiling when he spotted Leona. "Good morning, Leona-san."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at me being productive lol.


	3. Gifts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their relationship slowly developing.

Ruggie could be super irritating sometimes. Like how he wouldn't spend any money on himself unless it was ABSOLUTELY necessary. Leona gifted him expensive stuff only for Ruggie to sell them or give them away to the kids in his neighborhood. Leona hated that he couldn't see Ruggie wearing any of the jewelry he spent time picking for him. He didn't even think twice before selling them.

Which wasn't true. In fact, Ruggie thought a lot about everything he received from Leona. From expensive jewelry to glances during the day, Ruggie made sure to catch everything. At first, he was confused. Why would Leona give him stuff? Why would they be in cute boxes as if they were gifts? Could they be...? Ruggie shook the thought away. Leona was still a prince. Maybe he felt bad after seeing Ruggie's home and wanted to help him in a manner that wouldn't embarrass Ruggie. Ruggie didn't mind receiving things out of pity, as long as he could use something who cared about pride? Maybe it was a lion thing. Or something every person with normal life was privileged to have. As usual, Ruggie wasn't.

So Ruggie made sure to put a good use into the gifts. He sold them and bought gifts for everyone he knew. He even bought some new clothes for his grandmother. He had heard from people that she used to be an actual urban legend kind of person, a thief everyone was afraid of. Ruggie also knew she like expensive stuff and wasn't down on giving away things that she considered hers. He wondered if some new colorful clothes would make her happy.

Their days were slow. Ruggie tried his best to keep himself and Leona from repeating one grade and Leona lend him a hand whenever he felt like it. He liked being close to Leona. Time seemed to slow down when he heard the lion's slow breathing. He liked how Leona smelled, how he looked, how he chewed on his meat. He liked Leona's teeth. His jaw seemed to be strong. Ruggie always stopped his imagination from running wild at that point.

He understood his position. He was happy with just being close to Leona, he didn't even need an honorary title like a friend or even something more. Ruggie was greedy, but not too greedy. Someone would definitely come for his head if he tried to get too close, and he liked his head where it belonged. attached to the rest of his body that is.

So naturally, Ruggie didn't expect the sudden change in their relationship. He was sitting next to Leona's bed, folding Leona's clothes and talking about how he managed to get one of the older kids a cellphone. The kid was smart and was attending a good junior high, so Ruggie did everything to make sure she didn't stand out in a bad way. Suddenly, Leona seemed irritated. He grabbed Ruggie's arm and pulled him in bed. His chin resting on Ruggie's chest as he stared at a slightly blushed Ruggie.

Leona definitely gave him enough time to refuse. To push away and don't participate in anything that came next. But he didn't. He clung onto his only chance to be more with Leona. His lips tasted bittersweet, just like how he smelt. It was expensive and addictive. He got a good look at the tan body when Leona took off his shirt. Ruggie couldn't stop himself from giggling. He was flustered and maybe a little too happy. Either way, he shut his brain off and let Leona take him.

**_**********_ **

Ruggie was a panting mess afterward. His body hurt but his mind was slowly starting to work again. _'What now?'_ He thought, his mind was racing. He didn't even know what to think. What time was it? It seemed to be dark outside. Did he do all of his tasks for that day? Should he go back to his own room and pretend non of this ever happened? God, he was sweaty! Leona might be disgusted. _'I shouldn't be here...'_

He calmed down as Leona turned grabbed him and made him rest on his chest. Ruggie felt small. Leona had his eyes closed as he started massaging Ruggie's back, Ruggie wasn't the only one who was confused. Leona was also screaming in his mind.

How did it even happen? One second Leona was angry at Ruggie for selling his gifts (again) and then he's holding Ruggie down and kissing him. _'Do I have no self-control..?'_ Technically he never needed since he just had everything he wanted. But he should've known better.

His thoughts stopped as he saw Ruggie slowly shifting in place. It didn't take a genius to realize his body must hurt. Leona didn't even think about it. It came to him naturally. Maybe that was what he wanted. For Ruggie to let him take care of him. To make him feel good and deal with his problems. True, Ruggie was the active one. But Leona wouldn't mind if Ruggie relied on him every now and then.

They didn't get to discuss their relationship for a long time after that, but they both were happy with having the other in their arms.


	4. Wish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One of the new students has a crush on Ruggie and Leona just had about enough of it.

Obviously, Leona was the more popular one. He had the face and the body and was simply attractive, and a lot of students had come to respect him for one reason or another. But that didn't mean Ruggie wasn't popular. Because Ruggie was the one who actually listened. He remembered the names and the faces and their problems. (Mostly for his own benefit, and he could always sell a few secrets to Azul when he was short on money.) The teachers acknowledged him and the first years respected him and ultimately, some had small crushes on him. It wasn't a big deal. Not until Jack started developing feelings.

Jack's deal was different from the others. He was already strong and hard-working and took everything too seriously, so Ruggie used him in every way he could. From small things to make him carry Leona's laundry to bigger things. Ruggie would always thank him with a big smile and a sandwich. Jack started watching more carefully and soon enough, he started seeing his vice dorm leader differently. He saw Ruggie as someone hard-working, loyal, and respectful. While that wasn't false, it wasn't the whole truth about who Ruggie was.

And that irritated Leona.

Maybe the wolf just wasn't sharp enough, or maybe that was normal. Either way, Leona didn't like how Jack only saw the good things in Ruggie and refused to look at the whole picture. How dare he even try to make a move without even knowing the real Ruggie? The Ruggie who woke up with messy hair. The Ruggie who had more nightmares than dreams but never talked about it. The Ruggie who stole people's wallets like it was a habit, the one who's jaw was strong enough to kill someone on the spot and probably would if given the reason.

Jack was a straight forward person. He was too obvious with the way his tail started dancing as soon as he saw Ruggie and blushed when he came too close. He was a child. Someone with dreams and hopes. Would he even be able to handle Ruggie? No, Leona would probably snap the moment he dared to get too close. It was laughable, how much Leona thought about it, about Ruggie. It wasn't that he didn't like Jack. No, he was a good boy. And that irritated Leona.

"Leona! We!ll be late! Do you want me to call that child to attend classes instead of you?" Leona came back to his senses to face Vil's anger. He could probably ask a lot from Vil if they were friends. were they? He didn't know. But he wouldn't risk dealing with Vil's smug face. He just stood up without saying anything, his eyes catching Ruggie from the window. He was sitting on a bench with a cookie in his hand. And Jack was sitting next to him, smiling and wiggling his tail.

Vil followed his gaze. "Oh my, didn't know you could care about anyone but yourself~" _Tch_ , the bastard already knew. "Whatever. I'm gonna go sleep somewhere." He didn't want to deal with Vil's opinion on Leona's feelings, nor listening to him bitching about how Leona was totally going to have repeat a year again. He actually didn't mind. Graduating alongside Ruggie didn't sound bad. And another year away from home sounded even better.

Ruggie, on the other hand, had decided to put his complicated feelings for the lion aside for a while and focus on something better. Food. At the end of the day, Leona wouldn't fill up his stomach. _'No, but he'd fill up my...'_ He slapped himself for even thinking that! It scared Jack. "Are you okay?! What happened." Ruggie looked up at the wolf, slightly blushing from his thoughts and laughing at them simultaneously. It wasn't funny, but he didn't expect anything like that from himself. Maybe he was spending so much time with Kalim "I'm totally fucking my Aide slash alleged boyfriend" Al-Asim. Despite his naive appearance, he was quite open about his relationship with Jamil and the latter didn't try to hide it other. Did they go to couple therapy or something? Whatever, Ruggie was glad for them. Not that he'd say it out loud.

"I'm okay, I'm okay. By the way, did you confess to that person?" Bullshit. Ruggie knew it was himself better than anyone else. He felt bad for Jack (and the small boy who was slowly picking stalker-like behavior from his vice dorm leader) but he wasn't about to be honest with Jack if the wolf himself didn't plan to. Ruggie had come to know the boy well enough to know he wasn't they weren't right for each other. Epel was literally the perfect match for him, so why wasn't he looking that way instead? Why was Jack blushing and trying to gain his favor instead?

_'Isn't it the same for you?'_

They were all the same. Instead of looking for the right person, they fell in love with someone that would probably destroy them. The cold prince, the traitor, the scum, the hikikomori, the ex-Yankee. (Ruggie paid way more attention than others gave him credit for) 

Ruggie had one wish that he never said out loud. A wish no one knew.

_'If I could be born again, I wish to be born as the right person.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So do you guys wanna join a twst discord server?


	5. Maybe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally talk.

"But isn't that how it _should_ work?" Ruggie looked up at Leona. He had his eyes closed but he was listening to Ruggie. It was their way to cool down after sex, with Ruggie playing Leona's hand or hair and talking, and Leona just listening. He'd reply eventually, but it was rare for him to say anything more than a few words. But _that_ Leona started speaking after Ruggie talked about how Jack should look for the right person. "Not that anyone should take Frena's words for anything. But I've seen him rant about love and stuff. Apparently, it's more common for it to not make sense." Leona's tone of voice changed like he was more certain of his words. Like it was all his own.

"You're driven to people you shouldn't, people that make sense, people that do something unexpected. Even someone like Vil ended up dating a fucking nerd. You can't choose and you don't wanna stop. It's like drugs, you're supposed to be the one consuming it but it ends up finishing you and makes you fall apart. Even I ended up having feelings for you when I stopped feeling lonely..." Leona stopped, realizing what he had just said. He opened his eyes and stared at Ruggie's wide-open eyes for about ten seconds.

Everything after that happened way too fast for Leona's liking. He only had so much time to grab Ruggie and hold him to prevent him from running away. He held Ruggie close, stared into his eyes, and tried to calm him down. "No! You're not going anywhere. I messed up and we're going to talk about it!" He hated to admit it. Not that he made a mistake, but that he was scared up until now. He had enough.

Ruggie was showing his teeth, trying to push and bite just to get away from Leona. "No... I think I'm good with not talking..." He wasn't. But he was scared to lose whatever he had tried so hard to obtain. His existence, his sanity, and even Leona's trust. He didn't want to lose all of it with a wrong move he knew he'd make. Despite all of that, he calmed down when he saw Leona's expression. Ruggie couldn't help but smile. "So you _can_ make that sort of face." Leona was slightly blushing, his ears were twitching and his eyes were rough. ALmost... scared? But he also calmed down when Ruggie did. "You damn brat, stop running away from me."

They laid down again and Leona pulled Ruggie into his chest. He didn't like how Ruggie was shaking. He was always like this when he was thinking of bad things. It's not that Leona wasn't aware of the risk Ruggie might've to need to take. But Leona himself would also need to make some sacrifices and take risks. Why wasn't Ruggie as determined to throw everything away the same Leona was?

It was because Ruggie worked for everything he had while most of it was a given for Leona. All of his belonging, all the people who respected him, even the people who hated him. Even his strength existed because he was born in a place that he had every opportunity to train and become better. As for Ruggie, all he had done was to grasp into life and hope to wake up the next morning. It wasn't that Leona didn't understand. It was just irritating that Ruggie had become the most important thing to him while he probably was just a crush for Ruggie. Maybe even less, hopefully, more.

Especially after the whole Magical Shift incident (known as let's kill other students just because), he had come to realize Ruggie's worth once again. Now, he just couldn't let go.

"Leona-san... I want you to be part of my life." Leona froze at the sudden words. He didn't expect Ruggie to speak up first. "But I don't know if it's okay for me to be part of your life. What if I do something wrong? What if I make a mistake? What if I betray you? I don't want you to get too close, I don't want either of us to get hurt." _What if you get tired of me? What do I do then?_

Leona stared at Ruggie for a while. He looked smaller than usual. "You won't," Leona whispered. "I don't think you would. And even if you did, I'll hunt you as a ghost and make your life miserable. How does that sound?" Leona's attempt at a joke was able to warm up the mood. Ruggie smiled. "Maybe... and I could just steal some of your expensive shit and run away." Leona smiled back. "Or I'll grab everything and we run together."

They both spent the next few moments in absolute shock. Was it that easy? It wasn't going to stay easy, but it seemed too easy.

"So... we're a thing now?" Ruggie finally said. "Yeah," Leona whispered, holding Ruggie tighter as his eyes started getting heavy.


End file.
